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Lento con espressione in C sharp minor 'Nocturne', KKIVa/16

Introduction

The Nocturne in C sharp minor was published in 1875 and was not given the title ‘Nocturne’ by Chopin. He wrote it for his sister Ludwika while in Vienna in 1830, telling her to learn it before she practised his Second Concerto (perhaps a mischievous comment?). It does indeed include several references to that work as well as an echo of his song Zyczenie (‘The Wish’). The section beginning at bar 21 was originally written in two different metres simultaneously, no doubt confusing most people, and he later simplified it. This piece has become very popular with students and amateurs, who struggle to put thirty-five notes in the right hand against four in the left in the final scales – a good starting point for what is to come in the rest of the Nocturnes.

Since his triumph as winner of the 1970 Chopin International Piano Competition, Garrick Ohlsson has established himself worldwide as a musician of magisterial interpretive and technical prowess. This monumental recording project—first instigated by t ...» More

The C sharp minor ‘Lento con gran espressione’ written in 1830 is a good example of the trouble this process still causes when trying to establish a definitive version. Its autograph is in Majorca and is very different from three other extant copies. A copy belonging to Miliy Balakirev, who played it in public in Warsaw, is titled 'Reminiscences: Nocturne pour le piano', but it is a copy of a version belonging to Oskar Kolberg, where the designation ‘nocturne’ appears for the first time. The piece was composed in Vienna and was one of several sent to Maria Wodzińska for her album (at the time when Chopin still harboured hopes of marrying her).